Odds and ends from the old writing file

Wednesday

Feb 27, 2013 at 10:21 PM

This street lamp graces an outdoor setting somewhere in Beautiful Marion County. Just tell us where it is.

By Emory SchleyColumnist

Dearly Beloved and I stopped in at Darrell’s Doggone Good Diner in Friendship Plaza on State Road 200 about mid-morning the other day for a quick breakfast. I ordered a couple of biscuits with gravy and sausage, eggs and a generous patty of golden hash browns.

The meal was very tasty, the price was just right and the service was super. You can find the diner beside the entrance to On Top of the World. If you decide to go, though, keep in mind it’s open only for breakfast and lunch. Tell ’em Emory sent you!

ONGOING STORY: Readers will remember we have an ongoing tale in this column on Tuesdays where readers are asked to submit 100-word (or less) entries. The main characters are Molly and Jack.

Lee Endicott, Oak Run, wrote: “Borrowing some of Clint Eastwood’s famous lines, you made my day, Emory, when you published my contribution to Molly and Jack on Feb. 19. And another thing that made that day special was my wedding anniversary — two things in one day, who could ask for more? This contributing-continuing story thing is a great idea. A lot of fun. Congrats.”

On the contrary, Lee. Congratulations to you. Contributing to that story is not for the faint-hearted. And DB and I have one of those anniversaries coming up soon, too.

Georgianna Copeland wrote: “I want to tell you about an act of kindness that my mother Dorothy Wilcox and I received. We went to eat at Beef O’Brady’s on State Road 200 on Valentine’s Day and the Singing Quarters came in for lunch. When my mother left for a moment, I went over and told them I wished they could sing a song for my mother. As I was closing the door, they were behind me and when I called to my mother to come along, they sang the most beautiful and wonderful song to us. My mother was so happy. One of them came over and said ‘Happy day,’ and I mentioned I had lost my husband on Easter. He said he was very sorry. We want to say thank you to them for their kindness, and thanks again for the song.”

WHERE IS IT?: Take a look at the photo that accompanies this column. If you identify the location where the photo was taken, you may be eligible for a modest prize (Something worth $10 or less qualifies as modest, right?) which will be awarded to the FIRST person who gives me the correct answer.

Send it to me at slyguy73@gmail.com and please put “WHERE IS IT?” in the subject line to distinguish your email from the other stuff that also comes into that address. That is the ONLY official way to enter.

Prizes are more symbolic than valuable but, as with our continuing story series on Tuesdays, this is mostly for fun. Winners, however, are able to claim as many bragging rights as they choose … along with the prize of course.

I can’t tell you what the prize is, because I have no idea what it will be. Maybe a coffee mug, perhaps a ballpoint pen set, it could be a T-shirt, who knows? The choice of the prizes is at the discretion of someone else.

The rules are pretty simple: First email to me with the correct answer (and entrant’s street address) wins.

My email software time-stamps each email, so that will be our official timekeeper.

Entrants have to include their street mailing address so we can mail the prize to the winner. We won’t be using your street address for anything but sending off the prize to the winner — Scout’s Honor!

Don’t forget that street mailing address now, it’s important. Not including it is a violation of the rules and will disqualify your entry.

See the photo that accompanies this column and tell us if you know where it was taken.

Send comments to slyguy73@gmail.com and include your FULL name and town. This column appears each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and online at www.ocala.com.